Nycole Rosen – BGSF

Once a word most frequently used by performing musicians about their shows, “gig” is going mainstream in workplaces throughout the world.

In the U.S., the gig economy grew by 33 percent in the U.S. in 2020, a rate 8.5 times as high as the economy. If it continues to grow at this pace, perhaps 50 percent of employees in the U.S. will be part of it by 2027, replacing longer term commitments to employers with shorter-term assignments and projects.

The outlook on where—and when—to work is changing and employers are changing their approach to staffing, says Nycole Rosen.

Nycole Rosen | Vice President of Technology | BGSF

“We’re seeing very low unemployment in the U.S., so the challenge is still filling jobs,” says Rosen, BGSF’s vice president of technology. “We need to help create the workforce to fill our customers’ staffing needs and for employees to grow their skillsets.”

Rosen is leading a tech transformation helping the company address changing workplaces and the gig economy. It’s the kind of change management she’s embraced in her 20-year career in the staffing industry, too.

“I love technology and efficiency—to do things as quickly and well as possible,” she says. “I don’t like to churn and do the same thing over and over.”

Providing the talent

Now headquartered outside Dallas in Plano, Texas, BGSF was formed in 2007 with the acquisition of two light industrial staffing agencies by Taglich Brothers Private Equity Group. In almost 15 years, the company has expanded to include staffing solutions for industries such as IT, HR, accounting, administration, cybersecurity, property management and project management, with offices throughout the U.S.

Rosen joined BGSF in 2019 and set about bringing its disparate and sometimes outdated IT infrastructure into a cohesive network that can accommodate growth. CIO Chris Loope developed a two-year plan, but as has happened, 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic delayed full implementation. It also changed what BGSF needs to do to match job seekers with employers.

“In this labor market, potential employees are interviewing companies, not just being interviewed,” Rosen says. “Pay and benefits are increasing and improving as companies look for better applicants.”

As part of the tech transformation, Rosen says BGSF is creating algorithms to better match customers and talent. Those are also expected to launch in March 2022 as part of the extensive overhaul that will include video training modules for talent in areas such as Microsoft systems and software and even operating a forklift.

Change keeps coming

Just before the COVID-19 pandemic arrived in 2020, Rosen also led rolling out Microsoft Teams, which proved prescient. Though BGSF had not expected its employees to work remotely before the pandemic, in its aftermath, remote work continues. Some offices have reopened, but a hybrid approach is proving popular and Teams has been vital for communicating, she says.

Implementing Teams has been part of the company’s cloud migration to an Azure platform, which has also eliminated the need for almost all the company’s on-premises servers. The company uses Microsoft D365 in its finance and accounting areas, and Rosen says it will also be used for invoicing customers beginning in spring 2022.

With more than 1,000 BGSF consultants in the field, tracking and reimbursing expenses has been challenging. Rosen’s solution is implementing Chrome River software to process and approve expense reports. Also in spring 2022, Rosen will add Salesforce as the customer relationship management platform and will be integrating applicant tracking software to help manage day-to-day operations.

While providing a foundation for communication, Rosen (who works at home in Utah) also added Ceridian Dayforce software to process payroll for BGSF staff and the talent it provides its customers. Dayforce is coupled with UKG software for the timekeeping system—it includes an app allowing people to punch in and out by phone with the failsafe of geolocating to prevent anyone from punching in when they’re not on-site with a BGSF customer.

The additions and upgrades will make spring 2022 eventful for 450 BGSF employees, so Rosen also partnered with Stewart Leadership to implement WalkMe software that provides training modules for all the additions.

“Being in tech 20 years, I understand constant change, but I understand that change, especially of this magnitude-can be hard on end users,” Rosen says. “Helping people see the value of change with better tools and more efficiency is key to successful adoption.”

Passion matters

Rosen’s career in the staffing industry and applying technology to improve it came about by accident when she applied for a job as a receptionist just after graduating high school in 2000. What she hadn’t realized was she was applying to Employbridge, a staffing agency. She got the part-time assignment to one of its customers, and also began working at the staffing agency in the afternoon.

The afternoons quickly became a full-time Employbridge job as Rosen progressed to become a regional training specialist in 2002 and HR specialist in 2005. She also proved to be adept at data processing and helped Employbridge design its new CRM on a Microsoft platform, then trained her colleagues to use it.

The Salt Lake City native earned her bachelor’s degree in business administration, specializing in HR, from Upper Iowa University in 2010. She earned a master’s degree in teaching and learning with technology from Ashford University in 2012.

Rosen joined JourneyTEAM, a South Jordan, Utah, solutions provider specializing in Microsoft systems training, as a project manager in 2018, then joined BGSF in May 2019.

“I would say to anyone looking to start a career, ask yourself ‘what am I passionate about?’ Follow that because your career has such a large impact on the rest of your life. Be sure you’re doing something that you love. Find a company that supports that passion because companies are looking for employees with passion,” Rosen says.

View this feature in the Winter II 2022 Edition here.